Life under President Buhari as petroleum minister

Nigerians, contrary to their expectations, are witnessing the third fuel scarcity crisis in 10 months even with President Muhammadu Buhari as the Minister of Petroleum Resources, writes JESUSEGUN ALAGBE

The lingering fuel scarcity has undoubtedly caused untold hardship in the past few weeks for most Nigerians who rely on the commodity to meet their daily needs.

This, many people are complaining, was not what they expected when they voted for President Muhammadu Buhari in April 2015 to steer the affairs of the country.

They are particularly perturbed that despite that the number one citizen of the country doubles as the Minister of Petroleum Resources, having served in that capacity before, the country is still experiencing protracted fuel shortage.

During his electioneering, the main highlight of President Buhari’s “change” mantra was to ease the suffering of the citizens by providing them with infrastructures and making decisions that would make life comfortable for every Nigerian.

But with three well-pronounced fuel scarcity crises being witnessed within just three months (December, 2015, February and March, 2016) of the first 10 months of President Buhari’s administration, some Nigerians said they had yet to grasp the reasons for passing through this phase again.

The first major fuel scarcity that was experienced during President Buhari’s administration was in December, 2015, which saw Nigerians spending nights at filling stations even during the festive period.

The Minster of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, had blamed the fuel scarcity and queues at filling stations on former President Goodluck Jonathan. He said, “Nigerians are paying for Jonathan’s sins,“ adding, “What I will be telling Nigerians is that what we met on ground is such that we are paying for the sins of the last administration. I am being very serious.”

His comments, however, drew a wide range of criticisms from the public.

“So, let me get this right. The fuel scarcity we are facing today is the fault of an administration that we voted out nine months ago?” Ben Murray-Bruce, a senator from Bayelsa State, had asked.

After that period was over, Nigerians didn’t know they would have to battle another one in February, which also lingered on for some weeks.

In March, just a month later, Nigerians are yet witnessing another round of fuel scarcity.

A Lagos resident and bank employee, Olabode Odukoya, described the situation as “a seasonal movie” to Saturday PUNCH in an interview.

He has for the past three weeks parked his car at his home in Ikorodu and taken to public transportation to go to work on Victoria Island.

Odukoya said, “This is not what we bargained with President Buhari. This is not one of our expectations from him. I remember clearly that during the previous administration of former President Jonathan, if there was a crisis like this, the All Progressives Congress would have attacked and criticised him. They would say he was this and that. But here we are…”

Odukoya added, “I only struggle to buy fuel now to run my generator because there is also no light. Everywhere is dark. If I can’t put fuel in my generator, I will feel bored at home. That’s why I struggle to buy. I now take commercial bus to work.

“This is not expected from Buhari. Everything we were told by the APC-led government was that our suffering would ease, and I was among those who believed in the party. But see what we’re passing through for the third time now — in December last year, February and also March this year. It seems like a seasonal movie to me. When this is over, we don’t even know whether there is other phase around the corner.”

A Lagos-based lawyer and rights activist, Fred Agbaje, said the situation was a manifestation of unpreparedness by President Buhari to lead the country.

He told Saturday PUNCH in a telephone interview that the fuel scarcity condition was also because the President was devoting a major chunk of his time “fighting corruption” and not addressing the fundamental issues which affect Nigerians on a daily basis.

He said, “I think the present government did not do its homework sufficiently. If it had, we wouldn’t be passing through this phase over and over again. Remember, it took about six months for President Buhari to constitute his cabinet. That means a lot of things. That means he wasn’t prepared.

“I was one of those who voted for change, but this is not the change I voted for. The government is dissipating so much energy on corruption and not focussing on the real economic issues to spur growth.

“Don’t get me wrong. Nobody says he shouldn’t fight corruption, but don’t spend 90 per cent of your time on that. Corruption cases sometimes take a long-term approach to tackle. But talking about the real economy, that’s what the President should focus on right now.”

The present fuel crisis is perhaps affecting both the high and the low in the country, to the extent that the national leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, criticised the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, for the situation.

Kachikwu had told Nigerians that he was not trained as a magician when asked about why the crisis was lingering on for so many weeks.

But Tinubu responded in a statement titled, “Kachikwu needs to know that respect and good performance will do what magic cannot,” that the petroleum minister “has strayed from the progressive calling required of this administration.”

Perhaps disturbed by the situation, he added that “the fuel shortage is severely biting for the average person. They are forced to remain in lines for too long — for too much time — to pay too much money for too little fuel. This is no joking matter. Livelihoods and people’s welfare are at stake.”

Kachikwu later apologised to Nigerians on Tuesday for making the comment and said that the fuel scarcity would become a thing of the past by April 7.

He said, “I do apologise if a comment I made jocularly with my friends in the press about being a magician offends some Nigerians. It wasn’t meant to be. I did go ahead to explain what needed to be done. I didn’t intend to create this kind of hyperbole that it did.”

Experts who recalled that the Minister of Information and Culture, Mohammed, blamed Jonathan for the first fuel scarcity under the Buhari administration wondered why it is difficult for him and others to blame the Minister of Petroleum (President Buhari) for the current situation.

They said that even the leader of the party, Tinubu, who castigated Kachikwu, knew who to blame, but decided to blame the junior minister.

Lagos lawyer, Agbaje, said the President and Kachikwu should wake up from slumber and rescue Nigerians from the situation.

He said, “Dr. Kachikwu should wake up from his slumber and the President should also act fast because when Tinubu attacked Kachikwu, he also indirectly attacked the Presidency as President Buhari is the Minister of Petroleum. Kachikwu is the Minister of State for Petroleum. So the failure is from the Presidency. They should all wake up.”

Agbaje added that Nigerians couldn’t wait to suffer for even one more week.

He said, “We cannot wait for one more week, especially due to the blackout which is being experienced simultaneously with the fuel scarcity. Prices of goods and services have skyrocketed. Things are getting worse. I hope they don’t let this linger on.

“They should focus on creating employment and other real issues. They should address the power situation. Nigeria is one of the largest producers of oil and we’re passing through this? It’s quite unfortunate. We’ve changed government and now we’re experiencing this?”

Experts also recalled that a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke, was blamed for the problems associated with the petroleum sector when she was at the helm of affairs.

In that case, they said that President Buhari cannot be petroleum minister without taking responsibility for the fuel scarcity that has lingered on.

The Anglican Bishop of Niger West in Anambra State, Rt. Rev. Johnson Ekwe, also supported the call that Buhari, rather than Kachikwu, should be criticised for the situation.

The cleric, who said there was no reason for Nigerians to be passing through this hardship, stated that Buhari should be held responsible for any problem in the petroleum sector.

The fuel crisis could be costing the economy billions of naira daily, a Professor of Energy Economics at the University of Ibadan, Adeola Adenikinju, said in a telephone interview.

He said, “It might be running into billions of naira that we’re losing daily. People are queuing for hours at the filling stations. If a person earns, let us say, N1, 000 per hour day and the person is losing such time queuing for fuel, you can calculate how much millions of Nigerians are losing per day to this crisis, apart from losing man-hours.

“We have businesses losing hundreds of thousands of naira per day. People are also buying at around N200 per litre, an extra of N113.5 from the official N86.5 price. That is additional cost being incurred. Many businesses are grounded now because they can’t get fuel to operate. Electricity that would have helped savage this situation is not there.

“Businesses cannot produce and so they cannot pay workers. Frozen foods are wasted because there is no light and fuel. If we look at the cost of all these, they are running into billions of naira. Our refineries are not producing enough. This economy is not being managed well.”

In 2013, a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Allison-Madueke, said Nigerians were consuming about 40 million litres of petrol daily.

And as of August 2015, the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries were producing a total of 5.4 million litres of petrol per day to supplement the need, according to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

But in January 2016, the NNPC announced the closure of two of its four refineries after targeted attacks by militants disrupted their operations and did not state when or whether the refineries would reopen.

The militants had carried out the attacks after a Federal High Court issued an arrest warrant for ex-militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo (aka Tompolo), on charges of theft and money laundering totalling N34bn.

Be that as it may, Prof. Adenikinju has advised the Federal Government to liberalise the energy market by removing the fuel subsidy “once and for all” in order to solve the crisis the sector faces every time.

He said, “The subsidy system is simply not working. Our refineries are not working because of the subsidy. Investors won’t invest in this sector if there is subsidy. Despite subsidy, Nigerians still pay more for fuel, so what is its essence?

“Our people are not investing in refineries because they know how much they’re making from subsidy. We should involve the private sector in the energy industry. We need to change our economic approach in this sector. We can’t hold on to the socialism ideology that is not working for us. We need to work on electricity also. If there is light, Nigerians will pay. We need to address these issues.”

On fuel subsidy removal or non-removal, a Lagos-based lawyer, Jiti Ogunye, asked the Federal Government to strike the balance between political correctness and economic prudence.

He said, “The government doesn’t want to subsidise, and yet the refineries are not working. People, including me, are spending a whole day at filling stations. There’s no light. We can’t continue to weather this storm. Businesses are not working. Till when do we wait?

“The toll on the people is too much. If you don’t want to subsidise, then let the refineries work. People are suffering and I think the President should find the balance between what is politically correct and what is economically prudent.”

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